A Novel by Silas House

Clay’s Quilt

Silas House

Born in 1971 in Lily, KYNearby Leslie County is

the basis for fictional Crow County in Clay’s Quilt

Published in 2001, CQ is his debut novel

Both CQ and Eli the Good are somewhat autobiographical

Silas House Blog

Works to Date… 2001 Clay's Quilt - novel 2003 A Parchment of Leaves -

novel 2004 The Coal Tattoo - novel 2005 The Hurting Part - play 2008 The Hurting Part -

published play script 2009 Something's Rising -

non-fiction, co-authored with Jason Howard

2009 Long Time Travelling -(forthcoming play)

2009 Eli the Good - novel 2012 This is my Heart for You

-play

Wri

ter • Award

Winning Author

• Columnist• Contributor

to NPR’s “All Things Considered”

Mu

sic

Jou

rnali

st • Contributing editor to No Depression magazine

• Press kit writer for country music stars

Act

ivis

t • Active in the fight against mountaintop removal

• Member of Public Outcry

Many Hats…

Prominent Topics in CQ

Love of Place and Family

Passion

Loss and Grief

Self-Realization & Acceptance

Quilting in Appalachia

Domestic Violence

Coal Mining Pentecostalism

Music

Clairvoyance

The Natural World

Drug & Alcohol

Addiction

Who’s Who in CQ?

The Sizemore Family Tree

?

Uncle Gabe

Dreama

Aunt Easter &

ElAnneth

Clay

Paul & Sophie

Darry Spurlock

Tristan

Alma Mosely

Maggie

“Family Tree”

Marguerite & Harold Singleton and son, CakeMarguerite was Anneth’s best friendCake is Clay’s best friend

Lolie (Uncle Gabe’s girlfriend)Glenn Couch (Clay’s step-father)Evangeline (Alma’s sister)Denzel (Alma’s first husband)Geneva & Goody Roe (waitress at The Hilltop Club)

The Best of the Rest

“I ain’t never seen

it so quiet on this

mountain.”

~ Anneth (7)

US Hwy 52, Southbound on Buffalo Mountain

“Snowflakes”

West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, KentuckyBlast as much as 600 feet off top of mountainsDump the rock and debris into mountain streams – over 1200 miles of streams buried

Before

Increases flooding, contaminates drinking water, cracks foundations of nearby homes, showers towns with dust and noise from blastingSlurry spills destroy property and kill citizens

Slurry Spill

Over 300,000 acres of the most beautiful and productive hardwood forests in America have already been turned into barren grasslands.

After

Mountaintop Removal Mining

Elkhorn Coalfield, KY• Clay becomes a miner on

the day he turns 18.

Coal Miner, Harlan Co. KY• “Clay thought it the most

noble profession any man could have.” (14)

Scotia Mine, KY• Average annual deaths from

underground coal mining – approximately 65 (MSHA)

“Down in the mines” (14)

“Mining for Gold”

Clairvoyance “Easter had seen

spirits and known things since she was a little child” (19). Clair – voy – ance:

the ability to perceive matters beyond the range of ordinary perception (Merriam Webster)

Often called the sixth sense, second sight, or extra sensory perception (ESP)

“Ghost in the Tempest”

Quilting in Appalachia

“Clay wished that he could piece the story of his mother together in the same way….It would be a story made of scraps, but that was all he had” (40).

“Crazy Quilt with Button Embellishments”

Music in CQ All types of music figure prominently in CQ

“A major theme in this book is passion. And naturally, music is the ultimate expression of passion.” ~ Silas House

“Me and Bobby McGee”“La Campanella”“Barbara Allen”“Old Man”

“Hear the Music”

Drug & Alcohol AbuseDrug overdose death

rates have more than tripled in the US since 1990 (National Vital Statistics System).

“I think the readers outside the Appalachian region may be surprised by the drug use in the novel, because they may think life is safer in rural America.”

~Silas House

“Abuse Healing Quilt”

Domestic ViolenceBetween 3-4 women are

killed every day in the US by an intimate partner

Women experience 4.8 million intimate partner assaults and rapes annually

“Alma had gone to him in the middle of the night. Her face was black and blue from the blows of her husband’s fists, but she still felt at fault” (81).

“The Domestic Violence Quilt”

“Denzel had thought these cruel words, these put-downs and cusses, would break her. He had been wrong” (178).

Nature in CQ

Nature motifs include:MountainsRedbirds Wildflowers Snow/Rain/

ThunderstormsOcean

“Redbird Watercolor Quilt”

“They sat on him, flapping their broad, shiny blood wings, their eyes perfectly round and opaque….Then the birds took off, one by one, like drops of blood being sucked up into the clouds, up to become a part of the gray, rolling sky of January” (190)

Lament: “A song of grief” (234)

Many of the characters have reasons to grieve. What are some of those reasons?

“Clay screamed. He let go of all the screams that had been latched away inside him ever since he was a child, ever since he was a little boy lying facedown in the snow with his dead mother’s scarf wrapped around his hands” (247).

“Signs of Grief, Signs of Growth” Quilt

“Irish Lament”

Acceptance in CQ“Sometimes, you just

have to accept that some things in this life are unbearable, and go on” (255).

Each story line reaches some type of resolution. What are those conflict resolutions and how do they occur?

“Flying Birds” Quilts